[ LETTER ]

Gun Regulation

Published: Friday, February 8, 2013 at 12:03 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 8, 2013 at 12:03 a.m.

Right now is the time for each senator and each member of the House to know with certainty that a no vote on the pending gun-regulation legislation is a yes vote for a lifetime of sweating out the details of the latest mass shooting, or of the next innocent kid to be gunned down walking home from school or just shopping for new shoes with her mom at the mall.

How many were shot? Are they all dead? Did the shooter use an assault rifle? Did he buy it after the legislation was defeated? Did he have one of those large clips? Did the guy have a criminal record or a diagnosed mental illness and purchase the gun at a gun show? Did he buy it online or from a neighbor down the block?

Will Mr. or Ms. Legislator be able to keep themselves convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that universal gun registration, restrictions on magazine capacity and a ban on assault-style weapons would have made no difference, year after year, shooting after horrifying shooting?

We all know it's going to happen. And, sooner or later, there will be the massacre where it becomes undeniably clear that the legislation would have saved those kids and spared those parents from excruciating, life-long grief.

Every Democrat and every Republican planning to vote no, or struggling with the tough decision to vote yes, career be damned, needs to face this reality right now.

<p>Right now is the time for each senator and each member of the House to know with certainty that a no vote on the pending gun-regulation legislation is a yes vote for a lifetime of sweating out the details of the latest mass shooting, or of the next innocent kid to be gunned down walking home from school or just shopping for new shoes with her mom at the mall.</p><p>How many were shot? Are they all dead? Did the shooter use an assault rifle? Did he buy it after the legislation was defeated? Did he have one of those large clips? Did the guy have a criminal record or a diagnosed mental illness and purchase the gun at a gun show? Did he buy it online or from a neighbor down the block?</p><p>Will Mr. or Ms. Legislator be able to keep themselves convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that universal gun registration, restrictions on magazine capacity and a ban on assault-style weapons would have made no difference, year after year, shooting after horrifying shooting?</p><p>We all know it's going to happen. And, sooner or later, there will be the massacre where it becomes undeniably clear that the legislation would have saved those kids and spared those parents from excruciating, life-long grief.</p><p>Every Democrat and every Republican planning to vote no, or struggling with the tough decision to vote yes, career be damned, needs to face this reality right now.</p><p>DANETTE MAY</p><p>Lakeland</p>